Even the Northwest Territories' Government Admits Their Cannabis Education Posters Are Pretty Weird

The Northwest Territories have taken a novel approach to youth cannabis education. To deter the region's youth from using cannabis, the Canadian territory hired the Yellowknife-born artist Cody Fennell to illustrate a weird and slightly creepy set of augmented reality posters formatted like comics.

The posters are supposed to educate young people about topics ranging from high driving to substance abuse and feature characters like Weedini the Genie and Stoney the Inukshuk. One of the more popular posters is called 'Homegrown' and features an unborn child warning the pregnant mother about the risks that smoking marijuana poses to pregnant women.

The result is something like 'Cheech and Chong' meets '2001: A Space Odyssey.'

Even NWT Health Minister Glen Abernethy said he wasn't sure how well the campaign would go over with youth through the territory, but they have been well received by the target audience.

"They seemed to really like the creepy baby," said Abernethy. "I thought it might be not as popular, because it is a little creepy. But it really resonated well with the kids."

While a basic story can be ready right off the page, people can also interact with the posters via an app that uses augmented reality features that give readers more information. This is where the creepy stuff really starts to play out.

Latest.

With reports of declining insect populations worldwide, or what George Monbiot calls an “insectageddon,” there is growing concern about the health of pollinators. This in turn has led to increasing interest in urban beekeeping, pollinator gardening and urban bee advocacy. Yet there is also a growing backlash against urban honey bees.